Explanations Further Education

There’s one point that I feel was overlooked in “Help Your Backyard Horse Practice Thrive With These Business Tips” from the July/August 2018 issue. When you’re working with backyard horses, the owner often becomes interested and asks a lot of questions about various things. You have to think about and reflect on your work all the time so that you can explain what you’re doing to your clients.

You won’t be able to hide behind, “I work that way all the time, so I’m working this way.” You have to stay on track by keeping up with the latest news. You need to be able to answer questions and explain your answers. That will help you achieve a kind of mastery. Plus, learning and educating are pure fun!

— Nicole Lauck, Naurod, Germany

Editor’s Note: To read “Help Your Backyard Horse Practice Thrive With These Business Tips,” visit AmericanFarriers.com/0918.

Make Payment Expectations Clear

Your online Q&A titled “Delinquent Payments” caught my attention, and I wanted to share my own method for getting clients to pay on time.

I have a long-standing policy that I put on my invoices. It says that payment is due at the time of service, and any payment received after 14 days is subject to a 10% late fee. Any account that is late twice and/or any client that cancels or postpones three appointments without just cause in a 12-month period is fired. In 49 years, I have only had to fire…